Chapter M: W. B

_Difficulty of getting rid of a Name._--The institution founded in Gower Street under the name of the _University of London_, lived for ten years under that name, and, since, for fifteen years, under the name of _University College_, a new institution receiving the name of the _University of London_. A few years after the change of name, a donor left reversionary property to the _London University in Gower Street_, which made it necessary to obtain the assistance of the Court of Chancery in securing the reversion to its intended owners. A professor of the _College_ in Gower Street received a letter, dated from Somerset House (where the _University_ is), written by the Vice-Chancellor of the University himself, and addressed, not to the _University College_, but to the _University of London_. And in a public decision, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as Visitor of Dulwich College, which appears in _The Times_ of July 21, it is directed that certain scholars are to proceed for instruction to some such place as "King's College or _the London University_." This is all worthy of note, because we often appeal to old changes of name in the settlement of dates. When this decision becomes very old, it may happen that its date will be brought into doubt by appeal to the fact that the place of _instruction_ (what is _now_ the _University_ giving no instruction but only granting degrees, and to students of King's College among others) ceased to have the title of _University_ in 1837. What so natural as to argue that the Archbishop, himself a visitor of King's College, cannot have failed to remember this. A reflected doubt may be thrown upon some arguments relating to dates in former times.

M.

_House of Lord Edward Fitzgerald._--The Note on his mother, in Vol. iii., p. 492., reminds me of making the following one on himself, which may be worth a place in your columns. When lately passing through the village of Harold's Cross, near Dublin, a friend pointed out to me a high antiquated-looking house in the village, which he said had been occupied by Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and in which he had planned many of his designs. The house appears to be in good preservation, and is still occupied.

R. H.

_Fairy Dances._--It might perhaps throw some light on this fanciful subject, were we to view it in connexion with the operation of the phenomenon termed the "odylic light," emitted from magnetic substances. The Baron von Riechenbach, in his _Researches on Magnetism, &c._, explains the cause of somewhat similar extraordinary appearances in the following manner:--

"High on the Brocken there are rocky summits which are strongly
magnetic, and cause the needle to deviate: these rocks contain
disseminated magnetic iron ore; ... the necessary consequence is
that they send up odylic flames.... Who could blame persons imbued
with the superstitious feelings of their age, if they saw, under
these circumstances, the devil dancing with his whole train of
ghosts, demons, and witches? The revels of the Walpurgisnacht must
now, alas! vanish, and give place to the sobrieties of
science--science, which with her touch dissipates one by one all
the beautiful but dim forms evoked by phantasy."

Should such a thing as the odylic light satisfactorily explain the phenomenon of ghosts, fairies, &c., we should happily be relieved from the awkward necessity of continuing to treat their existence as "old wives' fables," or the production of a disordered imagination.

J. H. KERSHAW.

_Æsop._--It may be said, at first sight, "Why, every body knows all about him." I answer, Perhaps about as much as modern painters and artists know about Bacchus, whom they always represent as a gross, vulgar, fat person: all the ancient poets, however (and surely they ought to know best), depict him an exquisitely beautiful youth. A similar vulgar error exists with regard to Æsop, who in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_ is pronounced a strikingly deformed personage. The exact opposite seems to have been the truth. Philostratus has left a description of a picture of Æsop, who was represented with a chorus of animals about him: he was painted smiling, and looking thoughtfully on the ground, but not a word is said of any deformity. Again, the Athenians erected a statue to his honour, "and," says Bentley, "a statue of him, if he were deformed, would only have been a monument of his ugliness: it would have been an indignity, rather than an honour to his memory, to have perpetuated his deformity."

And, lastly, he was sold into Samos by a slave-dealer, and it is a well-known fact that these people bought up the handsomest youths they could procure.

A. C. W.

Brompton.

_Nelson's Coat at Trafalgar_ (Vol. iv. p. 114.).--Besides the loss of bullion from one of the epaulettes of Lord Nelson's coat occasioned by the circumstance related by ÆGROTUS, there was a similar defacement caused by the fatal bullet itself, which might render the identification suggested by ÆGROTUS a little difficult. Sir W. Beatty says, in his _Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord Nelson_, p. 70.:

"The ball struck the fore part of his lordship's epaulette, and
entered the left shoulder.... On removing the ball, a portion of
the gold lace and pad of the epaulette, together with a small
piece of his lordship's coat, was found firmly attached to it."

The ball, with the adhering gold lace, &c., was set in a crystal locket, and worn by Sir W. Beatty. It is now, I believe, in the possession of Prince Albert.

The intention of my note (Vol. iii., p. 517.) was to refute a common impression, probably derived from Harrison's work, that Lord Nelson had rashly adorned his admiral's uniform with extra insignia on the day of the battle, and thereby rendered himself a conspicuous object for the French riflemen.

ALFRED GATTY.

Queries.

JOHN KNOX.

In completing the proposed series of Knox's writings, I should feel greatly indebted to DR. MAITLAND or any of your readers for answering the following Queries:--

1. In the Catalogue of writers on the Old and New Testament, p. 107.: London, 1663, a sermon on Ezechiel ix. 4., attributed to Knox, is said to have been printed anno 1580. Where is there a copy of this sermon preserved?

2. Bale, and Melchior Adam, copying Verheiden, include in the list of Knox's writings, _In Genesim Conciones_. Is such a book known to exist?

3. Bishop Tanner also ascribes to him _Exposition on Daniel_: Malburg, 1529. This date is unquestionably erroneous, and probably the book also.

4. Knox's elaborate treatise _Against the Adversaries of God's Predestination_ was first published at Geneva, 1560, by John Crespin. Toby Cooke, in 1580, had a license to print Knoxes _Answere to the Cauillations of ane Anabaptist_. (Herbert's _Ames_, p. 1263.) Is there any evidence that the work was reprinted earlier than 1591?

5. The work itself professes to be in answer to a book entitled _The Confutation of the Errors of the Careles by Necessitie_; "which book," it is added, "written in the English tongue, doeth contain as well the lies and blasphemies imagined by Sebastian Castalio, ... as also the vane reasons of Pighius, Sadoletus, and Georgius Siculus, pestilent Papistes, and expressed enemies of God's free mercies." When was this _Confutation_ printed, and where is there a copy to be seen?

DAVID LAING.

Edinburgh.

Minor Queries.

116. "_Foeda ministeria, atque minis absistite acerbis_" (Vol. iii., p. 494.).--Will any of your readers who may be metrical scholars, inform me whether there is any classical example of such an accent and cæsura as in this verse of Vida?

C. B.

117. _Cornish Arms and Cornish Motto._--The Cornish arms are a field sable with fifteen _bezants_, not _balls_ as they are commonly called, 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. in pale _or_. These arms were borne by Condurus, the last Earl of Cornwall of British blood, in the time of William I., and were so borne until Richard, Earl of Cornwall, on being created Earl of Poictou, took the arms of such. According to the custom of the French, these were a rampant lion _gules_ crowned _or_, in a field _argent_; but to show forth Cornwall, he threw the fifteen _bezants_ into a bordour _sable_, round the bearing of the Earl of Poictou; but the Cornish arms, those of Condurus, are unaltered, though the _coins_ are often mistaken for balls, and painted on a field coloured to the painter's fancy. Can you tell me when the Cornish motto "one and all" was adopted, and why?

S. H. (2)

118. _Gloucester saved from the King's Mines._--In Sir Kenelm Digby's _Treatise of Bodies_, ch. xxviii. sec. 4., is this passage:

"The trampling of men and horses in a quiet night, will be heard
some miles off.... Most of all if one set a drum smooth upon the
ground, and lay one's ear to the upper edge of it," &c.

On which the copy in my possession (ed. 1669) has the following marginal note in a cotemporary hand:

"Thus Gloucester was saved from the King's mines by y'e drum of a
drunken dru[=m]er."

To what event does this refer, and where shall I find an account of it? It evidently happened during the civil wars, but Clarendon has no mention of it.

T. H. KERSLEY, A.B.

119. _Milesian._--What is the origin of the term _Milesian_ as applied to certain races among the Irish?

W. FRASER.

120. _Horology._--Can any of your numerous correspondents kindly inform me what is the best scientific work on Horology? I do not want one containing _mere_ mathematical work, but entering into all the details of the various movements, escapements, &c. &c. of astronomical clocks, chronometers, pocket watches, with the latest improvements down to the present time.

H. C. K.

121. _Laurentius Müller._--Can any of your readers mention a library which contains a copy of the _Historia Septentrionalis_, or History of Poland, of Laurentius Müller, published about 1580?

A. TR.

122. _Lines on a Bed._--Can you tell me where I can find the antecedents of the following couplets? They are a portion of some exquisite poetical "Lines on a Bed:"

"To-day thy bosom may contain
Exulting pleasure's fleeting train,
Desponding grief to-morrow!"

I once thought they were Prior's, but I cannot find them. Can you assist me?

R. W. B.

123. _Pirog._--A custom, I believe, still exists in Russia for the mistress of a family to distribute on certain occasions bread or cake to her guests. Some particulars of this custom appeared either in the _Globe_ or the _Standard_ newspaper in 1837 or 1838, during the months of October, November, or December. Having lost the reference to the precise date, and only recollecting that the custom is known by the name of _Pirog_, I shall feel much obliged to any correspondent of the "NOTES AND QUERIES" if he can supply me with further information on the subject.

R. M. W.

124. _Lists of Plants with their Provincial Names._--In a biography that appeared of Dr. P. Brown in the _Anthologia Hibernica_ for Jan. 7, 1793, we are informed that he prepared for the press a "Fasciculus Plantarum Hibernicarum," enumerating chiefly those growing in the counties of Mayo and Galway, written in Latin, with the English and Irish names of each plant. See also _Dublin Quarterly Journal of Medical Science_, i.--xxx. Where is this MS.?

Can any of your readers refer me to similar lists of plants indigenous to either England or Ireland, in which the provincial names are preserved, with any notes on their use in medicine, or their connexion with the superstitions of the district to which the list refers? Any information on this subject, however slight, will particularly oblige

S. P. H. T.

P.S. I should not be much surprised if the MS. of Dr. P. Brown existed in some of the collectanea in the Library of Trin. Coll. Dub.

125. _Print cleaning._--How should prints be cleaned, so as not to injure the paper?

A. G.

126. _Italian Writer on Political Economy--Carli the Economist._--What was the first work by an Italian writer on any element of political economy? and in what year did Carli, the celebrated economist, die?

ALPHA.

127. _Nightingale and Thorn._--Where is the earliest notice of the fable of the nightingale and the thorn? that she sings because she has a thorn in her breast? For obvious reasons, the fiction cannot be classical.

It is noticed by Byron:

"The nightingale that sings with the deep thorn,
That fable places in her breast of wail,
Is lighter far of heart and voice than those
Whose headlong passions form their proper woes."

But an earlier mention is found in Browne's poem on the death of Mr. Thomas Manwood:--

"Not for thee these briny tears are spent,
But as the nightingale against the breere,
'Tis for myself I moan and do lament,
Not that thou left'st the world, but left'st me here."

He seems to interpret the fable to the same effect as Homer makes Achilles' women lament Patroclus--[Greek: Patroklou prophasin, sphôn d' autôn kêde' hekastê]. It has been suggested that it rather implies that the spirit of music, like that of poetry and prophecy, visits chiefly the afflicted,--a comfortable doctrine to prosaic and unmusical people.

A. W. H.

128. _Coleridge's Essays on Beauty._--At pp. 300, 301, of this writer's _Table Talk_ (3rd edition) there is the following paragraph:--

"I exceedingly regret the loss of those essays on beauty, which I
wrote in a Bristol newspaper. I would give much to recover them."

Can any of your readers afford information on this point? The publication of the essays in question (supposing that they have not yet been published) would be a most welcome addition to the works of so eminent and original an author as S. T. Coleridge.

J. H. KERSHAW.

129. _Henryson and Kinaston._--MR. SINGER (Vol. iii., p. 297.) refers to Sir Francis Kinaston's Latin version of Chaucer's _Troilus and Cresseid_, and of Henryson's _Testament of Cresseid_. The first two books of the former are well known as having been printed at Oxford, 1635, 4to.; and the entire version was announced for publication by F. G. Waldron, in a pamphlet printed as a specimen, in 1796. Query, Who is now the possessor of Kinaston's manuscript, which MR. SINGER recommends as worthy of the attention of the Camden Society?

In the original table of contents of a manuscript collection, written about the year 1515, one article in that portion of the volume now lost is "Mr. Robert Henderson's dreme, _On fut by Forth_." Can any of your readers point out where a copy of this, or any other unpublished poems by Henryson, are preserved?

D. L.

Edinburgh.

130. _Oldys' Account of London Libraries._--In "A Catalogue of the Libraries of the late _William Oldys_, Esq., Norroy King at Arms (author of the _Life of Sir Walter Raleigh_), the Reverend _Mr. Emms_, of _Yarmouth_, and _Mr. William Rush_, which will begin to be sold on Monday, April 12, by Thomas Davies;" published without date, but supposed to be in 1764, I find amongst Mr. Oldys's manuscripts, lot 3613.: "Of London Libraries: with Anecdotes of Collectors of Books, Remarks on Booksellers, and on the first Publishers of Catalogues." Can any of your readers inform me if the same is still in existence, and in whose possession it is?

WILLIAM BROWN, Jun.

Old Street.

131. _A Sword-blade Note._--I find in an account-book of a public company an entry dated Oct. 1720, directing the disposal of "A Sword-blade Note for One hundred ninety-two pounds ten shillings seven pence." Can any of your numerous readers, especially those cognisant of monetary transactions, favour me with an explanation of the nature of this note, and the origin of its peculiar appellation?

R. J.

Threadneedle Street, Aug. 28. 1851.

132. _Abacot._--The word ABACOT, now inserted in foreign as well as English dictionaries, was adopted by Spelman in his Glossary: the authority which he gives _seems_ to be the passage (stating that King Henry VI.'s "high cap of estate, called _Abacot_, garnished with two rich crowns," was presented to King Edward IV. after the battle of Hexham) which is in Holinshed, (the third volume of _Chronicles_, fol. Lond. 1577, p. 666. col. 2. line 28.): but this appears to be copied from Grafton (_A Chronicle, &c._, fol. Lond. 1569), where the word stands _Abococket_. If this author took it from Hall (_The Union, &c._, fol. Lond. 1549) I think it there stands the same: but in Fabyan's _Chronicle_, as edited by Ellis, it is printed _Bycoket_; and in one black-letter copy in the British Museum, it may be seen _Bicoket_, corrected in the margin by a hand of the sixteenth century, _Brioket_.

Can any reader point out the right word, and give its derivation?

J. W. P.

133. _Princesses of Wales_ (Vol. iv., p. 24.).--C. C. R. has clearly shown what is Hume's authority for the passage quoted by Mr. Christian in his edition of _Blackstone_, and referred to by me in my former communication, Vol. iii., p. 477. Can he point out where the passage in Hume is found? Mr. Christian refers to Hume, iv. p. 113.; but I have not been able to find it at the place referred to in any edition of Hume which I have had the opportunity of consulting.

G.

Minor Queries Answered.

_A Kelso Convoy._--What is the origin of a _Kelso convoy_,--a Scotch phrase, used to express going a little way with a person?

B.

[Jamieson, in his _Dictionary of the Scottish Language_,
Johnstone's Abridgment, thus explains the phrase:--

"KELSO CONVOY, an escort scarcely deserving the name south of
Scotland. 'A step and a half ower the door stane.' (_Antiquary._)
This is rather farther than a _Scotch Convoy_, which, according to
some, is only to the door. It is, however, explained by others as
signifying that one goes as far as the friend whom he accompanies
has to go, although to his own door."]

_Cardinal Wolsey._--In the life of Wolsey in the _Penny Cyclopædia_ is the following:

"It is said that while he lived at Lymington, he got drunk at a
neighbouring fair. For some such cause it is certain that Sir
Amias Paulett put him into the stocks,--a punishment for which we
find that he subsequently revenged himself."

I have been unable to find what was his revenge.

B.

[Collins, in his _Peerage of England_, vol. iv. p. 3., says, "that
in the reign of Henry VII., when Cardinal Wolsey was only a
schoolmaster at Lymington, in Somersetshire, Sir Amias Paulett,
for some misdemeanor committed by him, clapped him in the stocks;
which the Cardinal, when he grew into favour with Henry VIII., so
far resented, that he sought all manner of ways to give him
trouble, and obliged him (as Godwin in his _Annals_, p. 28.,
observes) to dance attendance at London for some years, and by all
manner of obsequiousness to curry favour with him. During the time
of his attendance, being commanded by the Cardinal not to depart
London without licence, he took up his lodging in the great gate
of the Temple towards Fleet Street."]

_Brunswick Mum._--Why was the beer called _Brunswick Mum_ so named? When I was young it used to be drunk in this country, and was, I am told, extensively exported to India, &c. Is it still manufactured?

G. CREED.

[Skinner calls _Mum_ a strong kind of beer, introduced by us from
Brunswick, and derived either from German _mummeln_, to mumble, or
from _mum_ (silentii index), _i.e._ either drink that will (ut nos
dicimus) make a cat speak, or drink that will take away the power
of speech.

"The clamorous crowd is hush'd with mugs of mum,
Till all, tun'd equal, send a general hum."--_Pope._

Brunswick Mum is now advertised for sale by many publicans in the
metropolis.]

_Meaning of "Rasher."_--What is the derivation of the word _rasher_, "a _rasher_ of bacon?"

J. H. C.

Adelaide, South Australia.

[Surely from the French _raser_, to shave--a shaving of bacon. Our
correspondent will probably recollect that vessels that have been
_cut down_ are commonly known as _razees_.]

Replies.

PENDULUM DEMONSTRATION OF THE EARTH'S ROTATION.

(Vol. iv., p. 129.)

I beg to send you a few remarks on the note of A. E. B., concerning the "Pendulum Demonstration of the Earth's Rotation."

Your correspondent appears to consider that the only fact asserted by the propounders of the theory, is a variation in the plane of oscillation, caused by "the difference of rotation due to the excess of velocity with which one extremity of the line of oscillation may be affected more than the other;" the probable existence of which he proves by imagining a pendulum suspended over a point half-way between London and Edinburgh, and set in motion by being drawn towards and retained over London, and thence dismissed on its course. It is clear that in such a case the pendulum would at starting be impressed with the same velocity of motion in an eastern direction which the retaining power in London had, and that its path would be the result of this force compounded with that given by gravity in its line of suspension, _i.e._ towards the north, and its course would therefore be one subject to easy calculation. I should imagine that this disturbing force arising from the excess of eastern velocity possessed by the starting point over that of suspension, would be inappreciable after a few oscillations; but at all events it is evident that it might readily be avoided by setting the pendulum in motion by an impulse given beneath the point of suspension, by giving to it a direction east and west as suggested by A. E. B., or by several other expedients which must occur to a mathematician.

Your correspondent proceeds by requiring that there should be shown "reasonable ground to induce the belief that the ball is really free from the attraction of each successive point of the earth's surface," and is not as "effectually a partaker in the rotation of any given point" as if it were fixed there; or that "the duration of residence" necessary to cause such effect should be stated. Now I certainly am aware of no force by which a body unconnected with the earth would have any tendency to rotate with it; gravity can only act in a direct line from the body affected to the centre of the attracting body, and the motion in the direction of the earth's rotation can only be gained by contact or connexion, however momentary, with it. The onus of proving the existence of such a force as A. E. B. alludes to, must surely rest with him, not that of disproving it with me. What the propounders of this theory claim to show is, I humbly conceive, this,--that the direction in which a pendulum oscillates is _constant_, and not affected by the rotation of the earth beneath it: that as when suspended above the pole (where the point of suspension would remain fixed) the plane of each oscillation would make a _different_ angle with any given meridian of longitude, returning to its original angle when the diurnal rotation of the earth was completed; and as when suspended above the equator, where the point of suspension would be moved in a right line, or, to define more accurately, where the plane made by the motion of a line joining the point of suspension and the point directly under it (over which the ball would remain if at rest) would be a flat or right plane, the angle made by each successive oscillation with any one meridian would be the _same_, so, at all the intermediate stations between the pole and the equator, where the point of suspension would move in a line, commencing near the pole with an infinitely small curve, and ending near the equator with one infinitely large (_i.e._ where the plane as described above would be thus curved), the angle of the plane of oscillation with a given meridian would, at each station, vary in a ratio diminishing from the variation at the pole until it became extinct at the equator, which variation they believe to be capable both of mathematical proof and of ocular demonstration.

I do not profess to be one of the propounders of this theory, and it is very probable that you may have received from some other source a more lucid, and perhaps a more correct, explanation of it; but in case you have not done so, I send you the foregoing rough "Note" of what are my opinions of it.

E. H. Y.

A SAXON BELL-HOUSE.

(Vol. iv., p. 102.)

Your correspondent MR. GATTY, in a late number, has quoted a passage of the historian Hume, which treats a certain Anglo-Saxon document as a statute of Athelstan. As your correspondent cites his author without a comment, he would appear to give his own sanction to the date which Hume has imposed upon that document. In point of fact, it bears no express date, and therefore presents a good subject for a Query, whether that or any other era is by construction applicable to it. It is an extremely interesting Anglo-Saxon remain; and as it bears for title, "be leodgethincthum and lage," it purports to give legal information upon the secular dignities and ranks of the Anglo-Saxon period. This promises well to the archæologist, but unfortunately, on a nearer inspection, the document loses much of its worth; for, independently of its lacking a date, its jurisprudence partakes more of theory than that dry law which we might imagine would proceed from the Anglo-Saxon bench. Notwithstanding this, however, its archæological interest is great. The language is pure and incorrupt West Saxon.

It has been published by all its editors (except Professor Leo) as _prose_, when it is clearly not only rythmical but alliterative--an obvious characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry. And it is this mistake which has involved the further consequence of giving to the document a legal and historical value which it would never have had if its real garb had been seen through. This has led the critics into a belief of its veracity, when a knowledge of its real character would have inspired doubts. I believe that its accidental position in the first printed edition at the end of the "Judicia" (whether it be so placed in the MS. I know not) has assisted in the delusion, and has supplied a date to the minds of those who prefer faith to disquisition. The internal evidence of the document also shows that it is not jurisprudence, but only a vision spun from the writer's own brains, of what he dreamed to be constitutional and legal characteristics of an anterior age, when there were greater liberty of action and expansion of mind. The opening words of themselves contain the character of the document:--"Hit wæs hwilum." It is not a narrative of the present, but a record of the past.

The legal poet then breaks freely into the darling ornament of Anglo-Saxon song, alliteration: "On Engla lagum thæt leod and lagum," and so on to the end. As its contents are so well known and accessible, I will not quote them, but will merely give a running comment upon parts. "Gif ceorl getheah," &c. It may be _doubted_ whether, even in occasional instances, the _ceorl_ at any time possessed under the Anglo-Saxon system the power of equalising himself by means of the acquisition of property, with the class of theguas or gentils-hommes. But in the broad way in which the poet states it, it may be absolutely denied, inasmuch as the acquisition of wealth is made of itself to transform the _ceorl_ into a _thegn_: a singular coincidence of idea with the vulgar modern theory, but incompatible with fact in an age when a dominant caste of _gentlemen_ obtained.

It is not until the reign of Edward III. that any man, not born a gentleman, can be distinctly traced in possession of the honours and dignities of the country; an air of improbability is thus given which is increased by a verbal scrutiny. In the words "gif thegen getheah thæt be wearth to eorle," &c., the use of the word _eorl_ is most suspicious. This is not the _eorl_ of antiquity--the Teutonic _nobilis_; it is the official _eorl_ of the Danish and _quasi_-Danish periods. This anachronism betrays the real date of the production, and carries us to the times succeeding the reign of Ethelred II., when the disordered and transitional state of the country may have excited in the mind of the disquieted writer a fond aspiration which he clothed in the fanciful garb of his own wishes, rather than that of the gloomy reality which he saw before him.

The use of the _cræft_, for a vessel, like the modern, is to be found in the _Andreas_ (v. 500.), a composition probably of the eleventh century.

The conclusion points to troubled and late times of the Anglo-Saxon rule, when the church missed the reverence which had been paid to it in periods of peace and prosperity.

I have said enough to show that this document cannot rank in accuracy or truthful value with the Rectitudines or the LL. of Hen. I.

One word more. What is the meaning of _burh-geat_? _Burh_ I can understand; authorities abound for its use as expressing the _manoir_ of the Anglo-Saxon _thegn_. The "geneates riht" (_Rectitudines_) is "bytlian and burh hegegian." The _ceorls_ of Dyddanham were bound to dyke the hedge of their lords' _burh_ ("Consuetudines in Dyddanhamme," _Kemb_, vol. iii. App. p. 450.): "And dicie gyrde burh heges."

H. C. C.

THE WHALE OF JONAH.

Eichhorn (_Einleitung in das Alte Testament_, iii. 249.) in a note refers to a passage of Müller's translations of Linnæus, narrating the following remarkable accident:--

"In the year 1758, a seaman, in consequence of stormy weather,
unluckily fell overboard from a frigate into the Mediterranean. A
seal (_Seehund_, not _Hai_, a shark) immediately took the man,
swimming and crying for help, into it wide jaws. Other seamen
sprang into a boat to help their swimming comrade; and their
captain, noticing the accident, had the presence of mind to
direct a gun to be fired from the deck at the fish, whereby he was
fortunately so far struck (_so getroffen wurde_) that he _spit_
out directly the seaman previously seized in his jaws, who was
taken into the boat alive, and apparently little hurt.

"The seal was taken by harpoons and ropes, and hauled into the
frigate, and hung to dry in the cross-trees (_quære_). The captain
gave the fish to the seaman who, by God's providence, had been so
wonderfully preserved; and he made the circuit of Europe with it
as an exhibition, and from France it came to Erlangen, Nuremburg,
and other places, where it was openly shown. The fish was twenty
feet long, with fins nine feet broad, and weighed 3,924 lbs., and
is illustrated in tab. 9. fig. 5.; from all which it is very
probably concluded, that this kind was the true Jonas-fish."

Bochart concurs in this opinion.

Herman de Hardt (_Programma de rebus Jonæ_, Helmst. 1719) considers that Jonah stopt at a tavern bearing the sign of the whale.

Lesz (_Vermischte Schriften_, Th. i. S. 16.) thinks that a ship with a figure-head (_Zeichen_) of a whale took Jonah on board, and in three days put him ashore; from which it was reported that the ship-whale had vomited (discharged) him.

Eichhorn has noticed the above in his Introduction to the Old Testament (iii. 250.).

An anonymous writer says that _dag_ means a fish-boat; and that the word which is translated _whale_, should have been _preserver_; a criticism inconsistent with itself, and void of authority.

The above four instances are the only hypotheses at variance with the received text and interpretation worthy of notice: if indeed the case of the shark can be deemed at all at variance, as the term [Greek: kêtos] was used to designate many different fishes.

Jebb (_Sacred Literature_, p. 178.) says that the whale's stomach is not a safe and practicable asylum; but--

"The throat is large, and provided with a bag or intestine so
considerable in size that whales frequently take into it _two_ of
their young, when weak, especially during a tempest. In this
vessel there are two vents, which serve for inspiration and
expiration; there, in all probability, Jonas was preserved."

John Hunter compares the whale's tongue to a feather bed; and says that the baleen (whalebone) and tongue together fill up the whole space of the jaws.

Josephus describes the fish of Jonah as a [Greek: kêtos], and fixes on the Euxine for the locality as an _on dit_ ([Greek: ho logos]). The same word in reference to the same event is used by Epiphanius, Cedrenus, Zanarus, and Nicephorus.

The Arabic version has the word [Arabic] (_choono_), translated in Walton's Polyglott _cetus_; but the word, according to Castell, means "a tavern," or "merchants' office." This may have led to Herman de Hardt's whim.

The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac of Jonah, have both the identical word which was most probably used by our Lord, _Noono_, fish, the root signifying _to be prolific_, for which fishes are eminently remarkable. _Dag_, the Hebrew word, has the same original signification.

The word used by our Lord, in adverting to His descent to Hades, was most probably that of the Syriac version, [Syriac](_noono_), which means _fish_ in Chaldee and Arabic, as well as in Syriac; and corresponds to the Hebrew word [Hebrew], (_dag_), _fish_, in Jonah i. 17., ii. 1., 10. The Greek of Matthew xii. 40., instead of [Greek: ichthus], has [Greek: kêtos], _a whale_. The Septuagint has the same word [Greek: kêtos] for (1) _dag_ in Jonah, as well as for (2) _leviathan_ in Job iii. 8., and for (3) _tanninim_ in Genesis i. 21. The error appears to be in the Septuagint of Jonah, where the particular fish, _the whale_, is mentioned instead of the general term _fish_. Possibly the disciples of Christ knew that the fish was a [Greek: kêtos], and the habits of such of them as were fishermen might have familiarised them with its description or form. It is certain that the [Greek: kêtos] of Aristotle, and _cetus_ of Pliny, was one of the genus _Cetacea_, without gills, but with blow-holes communicating with the lungs. The disciples may also have heard the mythological story of Hercules being three days in the belly of the [Greek: kêtos], the word used by Æneas Gazæus, although Lycophron describes the animal as a shark, [Greek: karcharos kuôn].

"[Greek: Triesperou leontos, hon pote gnathois
Tritônos êmalapse karcharos kuôn.]"

The remarkable event recorded of Jonah occurred just about 300 years before Lycophron wrote; who, having doubtless heard the true story, thought it right to attribute it to Hercules, to whom all other marvellous feats of power, strength, and dexterity were appropriated by the mythologists.

T. J. BUCKTON.

Lichfield.

ST. TRUNNIAN.

(Vol. iii., pp. 187. 252.)

Your "NOTES AND QUERIES" form the best specimen of a Conversations-Lexicon that I have yet met with; and I regret that it was not in existence some years ago, having long felt the want of some such special and ready medium of communication.

In the old enclosures to the west of the town of Barton we had a spring of clear water called St. Trunnian's Spring; and in our open field we had an old thorn tree called St. Trunnian's Tree,--names that imply a familiar acquaintance with St. Trunnian here; but I have no indication to show who St. Trunnian was. I am happy, however, to find that your indefatigable correspondent DR. RIMBAULT, like myself, has had his attention called to the same unsatisfied Query.

Paulinus, the first Bishop of York, was the first who preached Christianity in Lindsey; yet St. Chad was the patron saint of Barton and its immediate neighbourhood, and at times I have fancied that St. Trunnian might have been one of his coadjutors; at other times I have thought he may have been some sainted person, posted here with the allied force under Anlaff, previous to the great battle of Brunannburg, which was fought in the adjoining parish in the time of Athelstan: but I never could meet with any conclusive notice, of St. Trunnian, or any particular account of him. Some years ago I was dining with a clerical friend in London, and then made known my anxiety, when he at once referred to the quotation made by DR. RIMBAULT from _Appius and Virginia_, as in Vol. iii., p. 187.; and my friend has since referred me to Heywoods's play of _The Four P's_ (Collier's edition of Dodsley's Old Plays, vol. i. p. 55.), where the Palmer is introduced narrating his pilgrimage:

"At Saynt Toncumber and Saynt Tronion,
At Saynt Bothulph and Saynt Ann of Buckston;"

inferring a locality for St. Tronion as well as St. Botulph, in Lincolnshire: and subsequently my friend notes that--

"Mr. Stephens, in a letter to the printer of the _St. James's
Chronicle_, points out the following mention of St. Tronion in
Geoffrey Fenton's _Tragical Discourses_, 4to., 1567, fol. 114.
b.:--'He (referring to some one in his narrative not named)
returned in Haste to his Lodgynge, where he attended the approche
of his Hower of appointment wyth no lesse Devocyon than the
papystes in France perform their ydolatrous Pilgrimage to the ydol
Saynt Tronyon upon the Mount Avyon besides Roan.'"

Should these minutes lead to further information, it will give me great pleasure, as I am anxious to elucidate, as far as I can, the antiquities of my native place.

Mr. Jaques lives at a place called St. Trinnians, near to Richmond in Yorkshire; but I have not the _History of Richmondshire_ to refer to, so as to see whether any notice of our saint is there taken under this evident variation of the same appellation.

WM. S. HESLEDEN.

Barton-upon-Humber, Aug. 29. 1851.

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Lord Mayor not a Privy Councillor_ (Vol. iv., pp. 9. 137.).--L. M. says that the precedent of Mr. Harley being sworn of the Privy Council does not prove the argument advanced by C., and "for this simple reason, that the individual who held the office is _not_ Right Honorable, but the officer _is_." What he means by the _office_ (of privy councillor) is not clear; but surely he does not mean to say that it is not the rank of privy councillor which gives the courtesy style of Right Honorable? If so, can a man be a member of the Council till he is _sworn_ at the board?

Is the Lord Mayor a member of the Board, not having been sworn? Is he ever summoned to any Council? When he attends a meeting on the occasion of the accession, is he _summoned_? and if so, by whom, and in what manner? The Lord Mayor is certainly _not_ a privy councillor by reason of his courtesy _style_ of Lord, any more than the Lord Mayor of York.

The question is, whether the style of Right Honorable was given to the Lord Mayor from the supposition that he was a privy councillor, or from the fact that formerly the Lord Mayor was considered as holding the rank of a _Baron_; for if he died during his mayoralty, he was buried with the rank, state, and degree of _Baron_.

When does it appear that the style of Right Honorable was first given to the Lord Mayor of London?

E.

_Did Bishop Gibson write a life of Cromwell?_ (Vol. iv., p. 117.).--In the Life of the Rev. Isaac Kimber, prefixed to his _Sermons_, London, 1756, 8vo., it is stated that--

"One of the first productions he gave to the world was the _Life
of Oliver Cromwell_ in 8vo., printed for Messrs. Brotherton and
Cox. This piece met with a very good reception from the public,
and has passed through several editions, universally esteemed for
its style and its impartiality; and as the author's name was not
made public, though it was always known to his friends, it was at
first very confidently ascribed to Dr. Gibson, Bishop of
London."--P. 10.

The Life of Kimber appears to have been written by Edward Kimber, his son, and therefore the claim of Bishop Gibson to this work may very fairly be set aside.

The _Short Critical Review of the life of Oliver Cromwell, by a Gentleman of the Middle Temple_, has always been attributed to John Bankes, an account of whom will be found in Chalmers's _Biog. Dict._, vol. iii. p. 422., where it is confidently stated to be his. It was first published in 1739, 8vo. I have two copies of a third edition, Lond. 1747. 12mo. "Carefully revised and greatly enlarged in every chapter by the author." In one of the copies the title-page states it to be "by a gentleman of the Middle Temple;" and in the other "by Mr. Bankes." Bishop Gibson did not die till 1748, and there seems little probability that, if he were the author, another man's name would be put to it during his lifetime.

I conclude therefore that neither of these two works are by Bishop Gibson.

JAS. CROSSLEY.

_Lines on the Temple_ (Vol. iii., pp. 450. 505.).--In the _Gentleman's Mag._ (Suppl. for 1768, p. 621.), the reviewer of a work entitled "_Cobleriana, or the Cobler's Miscellany_, being a choice collection of the miscellaneous pieces in prose and verse, serious and comic, by Jobson the Cobler, of Drury Lane, 2 vols.," gives the following extract; but does not state whether it belongs to the "new" pieces, or to those which had been previously "published in the newspapers," the volume being avowedly composed of both sorts:--

"_An Epigram on the Lamb and Horse, the two insignia of the
Societies of the Temple._

"The Lamb the _Lawyers'_ innocence declares,
The Horse _their_ expedition in affairs;
Hail, happy men! for chusing two such types
As plainly shew _they_ give the world no wipes;
For who dares say that suits are at a stand,
When _two_ such virtues both go hand in hand?
No more let _Chanc'ry Lane_ be endless counted,
Since they're by Lamb and Horse so nobly mounted."

The _Italics_, which I have copied, were, I suppose, put in by the reviewer, who adds, "Q. Whether the Lamb and Horse are mounted upon Chancery Lane, or two virtues, or happy men?" Poor man! I am afraid his Query has never been answered; for that age was not adorned and illustrated by any work like one in which we rejoice,--a work of which, lest a more unguarded expression of our feelings should be indelicate, and subject us to the suspicion of flattery, we will be content to say boldly, that, though less in size and cost, it is cotemporaneous with the Great Exhibition.

A TEMPLAR.

These lines are printed (probably for the first time) in the sixth number of _The Foundling Hospital for Wit_, 8vo.: Printed for W. Webb, near St. Paul's, 1749 (p. 73.). The learned author of _Heraldic Anomalies_ (2nd edit. vol. i. p. 310.) says they were _chalked_ upon one of the public gates of the Temple; but from the following note, preceding the lines in question, in _The Foundling Hospital for Wit_, this statement is probably erroneous:

"The Inner Temple Gate, London, being lately repaired, and
curiously decorated, the following inscription, in honour of both
the Temples, is _intended_ to be put over it."

A MS. note, in a cotemporary hand, in my copy of _The Foundling Hospital for Wit_, states the author of the original lines to have been the "Rev. William Dunkin, D.D." The answer which follows it, is said to be by "Sir Charles Hanbury Williams."

EDWARD F. RIMBAULT.

_Henry Headley, B.A._ (Vol. iii., p. 280.).--E. B. PRICE styles "Henry Headley, B.A., of Norwich, a _now forgotten critic_." He might have added, "but who deserved to be remembered, as one whose _Select Beauties of Ancient English Poetry, with Remarks, &c._, in 2 vols., 1787, contributed something towards the revival of a taste for that species of literature which Percy's _Reliques_ exalted into a fashion, if not a passion, never to be discountenanced again." The work of course is become scarce, and not the less valuable, though that recommendation constitutes its least value.

J. M. G.

Hallamshire.

_Cycle of Cathay_ (Vol. iv., p. 37.).--Without reflecting much on the matter, I have always supposed the "cycle" in Tennyson's line--

"Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay"--

to be the Platonic cycle, or great year, the space of time in which all the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect of the equinoxes; which space of time is calculated by Tycho Brahe at 25,816 years, and by Riccioli at 25,920: and I understood the passage (whether rightly or wrongly I shall be glad to be informed) to mean, that fifty years of life in Europe were better than any amount of existence, however extended, in the Celestial Empire.

W. FRASER.

_Proof of Sword Blades_ (Vol. iv., pp. 39. 109.).--Without wishing to detract from the merits of an invention, which probably is superior in its effects to old modes of testing sword blades, I object to the term _efficient_ being applied to _machine_-proved swords.

Because, after such proof, they frequently break by ordinary cutting; even those which have been made doubly strong and heavy--and hence unfit and useless for actual engagement--have so failed. And because machine-tried swords are liable to, and do, break in the handle.

For many reasons I should condemn the machine in question as inapplicable to its purposes. By analogous reasoning, it would not be wrong to call a candle a good thrusting instrument, because a machine may be made to force it through a deal plank.

The subject of testing sword blades is a very important one, although it has not received that degree of attention from those whom it more nearly concerns which it seems to demand.

The writer's experience has been only _en amateur_; but it has satisfied him how much yet remains to be effected before swords proved by a machine are to be relied upon.

E. M. M.

Thornhill Square, August 16. 1851.

_Was Milton an Anglo-Saxon Scholar?_ (Vol. iv., p. 100.).--Is it too much to suppose that the learned "Secretary for Forreigne Tongues" was acquainted with the _Paraphrasis poetica Genesios ac præcipuarum sacræ Paginæ Historiarum, abhinc Annos MLXX. Anglo-Saxonicè conscripta, et nunc primum edita a Francisco Junius_, published at Amsterdam in 1655, at least two years before he commenced his immortal poem? Hear Mr. Turner on the subject:

"Milton could not be wholly unacquainted with Junius; and if he
conversed with him, Junius was very likely to have made Cædmon the
topic of his discourse, and may have read enough in English to
Milton, to have fastened upon his imagination, without his being a
Saxon scholar."--Turner's _Anglo-Saxons_, vol. iii., p. 316.

Both Mr. Turner and Mr. Todd, however, appear to lean to the opinion that Milton was not unskilled in Saxon literature, and mention, as an argument in its favour, the frequent quotations from the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ which occur in the History. It is also worthy of note that Alexander Gill, his schoolmaster, and whose friendship Milton possessed in no small degree, had pursued his researches somewhat deep into the "well of English undefiled," as appears from that extremely curious, though little known work, the _Logonomia Anglica_.

SAXONICUS.

_English Sapphics._--I admired the verses quoted by H. E. H. (Vol. iii., p. 525.) so much that I have had them printed, but unfortunately have no copy by me to send you. I quote them from memory:

PSALM CXXXVII.

_By a Schoolboy._

"Fast by thy stream, O Babylon! reclining,
Woe-begone exile, to the gale of evening
Only responsive, my forsaken harp I
Hung on the willows.

"Gush'd the big tear-drops as my soul remember'd
Zion, thy mountain-paradise, my country!
When the fierce bands Assyrian who led us
Captive from Salem

"Claim'd in our mournful bitterness of anguish
Songs and unseason'd madrigals of joyance--
'Sing the sweet-temper'd carols that ye wont to
Warble in Zion.'

"Dumb be my tuneful eloquence, if ever
Strange echoes answer to a song of Zion,
Blasted this right hand, if I should forget thee,
Land of my fathers!"

O. T. DOBBIN.

Hull College.

_The Tradescants_ (Vol. iii., p. 469.).--It is to be hoped that the discovery by C. C. R. of Dr. Ducarel's note may yet lead to the obtaining further information concerning the elder Tradescant. It may go for something to prove beyond doubt that he was nearly connected with the county of Kent, which has not been proved yet. Parkinson says that "he sometimes belonged to ... Salisbury.... And then unto the Right Honorable the Lord Wotton at Canterbury in Kent." See Parkinson's _Paradisus Terrestris_, p. 152. (This must be the same with DR. RIMBAULT'S Lord Weston, p. 353., which should have been "Wotton.") We may therefore, in the words of Dr. Ducarel's note, "consult (with certainty of finding information concerning the Tradescants) the registers of ----apham, Kent." I should give the preference to any place near Canterbury approaching that name.

It is worth noticing that the deed of gift of John Tradescant (2) to Elias Ashmole was dated in true astrological form, being "December 16, 1657, 5 hor. 30 minutes post merid." See Ashmole's _Diary_, p. 36.

BLOWEN.

_Monumental Inscription, English Version_ (Vol. iv., p. 88.).--I have a Note on this very epitaph, made several years since, from whence extracted I know not; but there is an English version attached, which may prove interesting to some readers, as it exactly imitates the style of the Latin:

cur- f- w- d- dis- and p-
"A -sed -iend -rought -eath ease -ain."
bles- fr- b- br- and ag-

E. S. TAYLOR.

_Lady Petre's Monument_ (Vol. iv., p. 22.).--Will the following passage, from Murray's _Handbook to Southern Germany_, throw any light on the meaning of the initials at the foot of Lady Petre's monument, as alluded to in your Number of July 12, 1851?

"At the extremity of the right-hand aisle of the cathedral of St.
Stephen, is the marble monument of the Emperor Frederick III.,
ornamented with 240 figures and 40 coats of arms, carved by a
sculptor of Strasburg, Nicholas Lerch. On a scroll twisted around
the sceptre in the hand of the effigy, is seen Frederick's device
or motto, the letters A. E. I. O. U., supposed to be the initials
of the words Alles Erdreich Ist Oesterreich Unterthan; or, in
Latin, Austriæ Est Imperare Orbis Universi."--Murray's _Handbook
to Southern Germany_, pp. 135, 136.